Sunday, September 7, 2008

Identifying the bird at Mount Faber

I have emailed Nature Society (Singapore) to help identify the bird which I spotted at Mount Faber. They have replied promptly, identifying it as the female Laced Woodpecker. The male bird will have a reddish crown.
This is the Nature Society (Singapore) website : http://www.nss.org.sg/index.html

Friday, September 5, 2008

Sighting of bird in Mount Faber

Last month, while walking up a flight of steps leading up to Mount Faber, I spotted this bird that was pecking fervently at a hole in a tree trunk. Is it a woodpecker?
Bird in Mount Faber - view 1
Bird in Mount Faber - view 1 (zoom)
Bird in Mount Faber - view 2
Bird in Mount Faber - view 2 (zoom)
Map of the place with a blue marker that approximately indicates the place where I saw the bird (you can drag and zoom or click on 'View Larger Map') :

View Larger Map

Gratitude and Child's Development

In Rudolf Steiner's lecture (The Child's Changing Consciousness: As the Basis of Pedagogical Practice), Rudolf lectured extensively on the development stages of the child. I like to highlight and summarize one of the interesting section.

In Lecture Six (page 124), Rudolf discussed on the three fundamental human virtures, namely gratitude, love and duty. Rudolf pointed out on the importance of nuturing and cultivating the virtue of gratitude in the growing child as it will greatly benefit the child's whole life. The child should live in an environment which is permeated with the mood of gratitude which to a great extent, depends on the behaviour of the people around the child. The development of the this virtue (gratitude) in the child not only affects its (the child's) physical development but also serves as a foundation for the child's development of other virtues such as love and duty.

Reference : The Child's Changing Consciousness: As the Basis of Pedagogical Practice by Rudolf Steiner

Download page for this lecture : http://steinerbooks.org/research/archive.php#waldorf

Two Book Reviews

Recently I read a number of books by Rudolf Steiner. Here are two book reviews which I submitted to Amazon.com for the following titles :
Agriculture: An Introductory Reader: A Collection (Pocket Library of Spiritual Wisdom)
Architecture: An Introductory Reader (Pocket Library of Spiritual Wisdom)

Book reviews link :

http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A2IYDB9W2W6QGT/ref=cm_cr_dp_auth_rev?ie=UTF8&sort%5Fby=MostRecentReview